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A research by a University professor recommends employing Asiran motifs in decorative design.

King Khalid University, Media Center

An Assistant Professor of Textile and Clothing at King Khalid University (KKU), Dr. Wafa Mohamed Samaha has conducted a research entitled "To benefit from Asiri folklore to enrich the decorative design of the furniture". The research is aimed to enrich both the design and aesthetic aspects of modern furnishings. Furthermore, the research is aimed to benefit from the aesthetics aspects of the Asirian folklore, which represents the heritage and culture of the Southern area of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Samaha also aimed through her research, to enrich the decorative design of some of the furniture through the Asirian folklore motifs, in addition to redesigning the proposed decorations that are derived from the Asirian folklore motifs to enrich the decorative design of the furniture, and to get new aesthetic and utilitarian values of furniture that are characterized by originality and innovation.

The research used both the descriptive approach; analytical study to the decorative units of the Asirian art which form the customs and traditions in Asir region, as well as the experimental approach; innovating decorative designs for units of the Asirin art, and employing them, using the computer to suit the furnishings designs. The importance of the research is represented in the identification of the technical and diverse decorative features of the Asirian heritage folklore, and in the desire for additional innovation to try to move away from the traditional designs for furniture. Moreover, the research will help to open a new area of diversity in the decorative designs for furniture that carry the authentic heritage character, in addition to enriching the aesthetic side (decorative design) for some furnishings. The research tools concentrated on the heritage of the Asir region, and on designs for furniture, besides benefiting from the capabilities of the computer in the output of the proposed designs, and a questionnaire form to judge portfolios that were prepared and carried out by the researcher.

According to the research, the decorations in Asir region are characterized by many properties. They are affected by the teachings of the religion when using the decorations of crescent and star, which are being inspired by Islamic decorative arts. So also by as well, the diversity of folk motifs, where most of them included the geometric, floral, and symbolic motifs. The decorations in Asir are also characterized by modification to the elements of nature to abstract and geometric shapes, which appeared simple. Also, the Asirian decorations are characterized by the repetitive in motifs, and by filling in the blanks in the basic decorative design; qualities which characterize the ancient Islamic motifs and traditional decorations.

The search results revealed that the technically analytical study to the technical attributes in Asirian folk art is considered an inspirational experiment and a method to search for diverse technical solutions for the design of furnishings. Moreover, the results revealed the importance of folk art in all physical and moral forms, which represents a background for the past, which forms the future of the new generations. Results of the research also included the possibility of decoration to furnishings with a variety of ways and different techniques in terms of raw material and shape, because of the diversity of decorative units of the Asirian folklore.

The research recommended taking care of varied artistic folklore arts because of their distinct styles and features to use them in appropriate purpose in the field of textile and clothing, with sufficient attention to the diversity of application techniques in the design of the furniture, which help in enrichment.